Method of pictorial representation



Dec. 22, 1936. A, AMES, JR 2,064,870

METHOD OF PICTORIAL REPRESENTATION Filed Feb. 26, 1934 3 Sheets-Sheet l 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 A. AMES. JR

METHOD OF PICTORIAL REPRESENTATION Filed Feb. 26, I 1954 F 1 L l m 4 7 /y/ I 1 y m Dec. 22, 1936.

Dec. 22, 1936. A. AMES, JR

I METHOD OF PIGTORIAL REPRESENTATION 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Feb. 26, 1934 CENTER OF lNTEREST BACKGROUND ALONE FROM CENTER OF lNTEREST ALONE F0 AND NP SUPER/MPOSED -FoR PRINT/N6 PB STENCIL PR/NT N0 PRINTED o/v PB FIN/SHED FILM Patented Dec. 22, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 10 Claims.

The present invention relates to the making of pictorial representations or reproductions, photographically or by painting, printing or any graphical method, which representations have novel and improved aesthetic characteristics.

I found that the artistic quality of pictures is often considerably improved by using more than one station point of perspective, and it is the main object of this invention to provide a method of locating the station points of perspective of certain component parts of a multiple perspective picture in such a manner that effects are obtained which convey to the observer certain aesthetically desirable effects that can not be expressed with pictures incorporating conventional perspective, and therefore, to improve the usefulness of paintings, photographs, cinematographic pictures, and any other type of pictorial representation. According to the present invention, the station point of perspective of at least part of the picture is at some place other than the station point of the observer of the picture, preferably at the object or center of interest of the picture, whereas the remainder of the pictorial reproduction has its station point of perspective, as usual, at the assumed position of the observer. I

The improved effect of such pictures is probably due to the fact that the portion depicted with the station point at the center of interest suggests to the observer that his position is at that center which again imparts to him the aesthetic experience of having his consciousness projected into the scene at which he is looking;

that is, the experience of an expanded consciousness.

The center of interest may be a person, or group of persons, or any other object, or in scenes with a sky line, the secondary station point of perspective may be located at the feet of the observer himself, or at the foot of the principal object or center of interest shown in the picture.

The invention will be better understood from the following description of its genus as illustrated by several embodiments thereof. The description refers to the drawings in which,

Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic plan of a scene to be taken according to the invention;

Fig. 2 is the representation of a scene taken from the place of the observer;

Fig. 3 is a corresponding representation made according to my invention;

Fig. 4 is a diagram showing the relation of the partial records used in one embodiment of my invention;

Fig. 5 is a diagram similar to Fig. 1, indicat ing an application of my invention to cinematography; and 5 Fig. 6 is a diagram showing the steps of the cinematographic process illustrated in Fig. 5.

Although my new method can be applied to any known type of pictorial representation, its principal practical aspect lies probably in its application to photography, still as well as cinematographic, and photographic embodiments thereof will therefore be described by way of example.

Referring to Fig. 1, be it presumed that a person P sitting at a table T with a lamp L in a room with window W, walls B and. lamp 8, constituting the scene shown in Fig. 2, is to be photographed according to my method. According to the principle explained before, the portions of the picture which constitute the environment of the person, namely B, S and W, are to be shown with the, station point of perspective at P, whereas the person itself, and its immediate surroundings, namely T and L, are to be shown with the station point at the place of the observer 0.

The environment comprising objects B, W and S is therefore photographed from a point substantially at P, and the person P with objects T and L is taken from point 0. The two records are then suitably combined, for example, by well known blocking out and superposed copying methods, or according to a procedure to be described hereinafter in connection with the application of my method to cinematography. Fig. 2 shows the entire scene as photographed from 0, whereas Fig. 3 shows objects B, W and S taken from P and combined with the record of P, T and L taken from 0 as shown in Fig. 2. It will be observed that Fig. 3 is actually more effective, and offers a much more satisfactory representation of the scene, than Fig. 2.

In order to obtain proper agreement of the combined records, it is advisable to apply the following procedure, explained by referring to Fig. 4. In this figure, B represents the background or environment and P the center of interest, for example, a person. C and C are cameras, or a camera with a record area E, in two positions, at the left approximately at O, the place of the observer, and at the right approximately at P, the center of interest. The records of B and P on plate or film E, are P and B respectively, P being taken at O, and B at P. The 55 distance between the camera lens at P and the environment B is marked a, and the distance between the lens at O and B is denoted a In order to obtain a record of the object of interest of the proper size relatively to the environment, and, if blocking out or masking out methods are used for superimposing the part records, in order to obtain proper register, the focal distances of the cameras at P and 0, namely f and f, respectively, should approximately fulfill the relation f:o:=j:a', according to the simple geometrical relation of these values which will be evident from Fig. 4 without further explanation. By having camera objectives of proper focal lengths, or by other photographic methods, for example enlarging, the proportion of the center of interest relatively to the background and the apparent distance between the two parts of the picture can be changed, as will also be evident from Fig. 4.

For making cinematographic records accord ing to my method, the following procedure may be followed.

Referring to Fig. 5, B is again the environment, P the center of interest and O the place of the observer. S is a very light screen, preferably illuminated to eliminate any shadows cast by P which is placed rather closely behind P-and obscures the environment from O. P is then photographed with camera M and B with camera M behind screen S and approximately following the movements of P It is possible to use one and the same camera for both exposures, care being taken to reproduce the movements of P as accurately as possible, concerning time as well as space. Or, two cameras M and M can be used simultaneously, M moving behind the screen with P as closely to the latter as possible, following for example the movement of the center of interest from P to P or P by moving from M to M or M It will be evident that this procedure can be easily adapted to scenes and movements of varying character.

Fig. 6 shows at N the negative record taken with camera M from 0 and at NP the negative record taken with camera M from P. From negative NO a positive PO is produced which, by well known methods, is so made that the record of P appears as a black silhouette against the transparent background. NP is then copied together with P0, which results in a latent positive record PB of the environment, with the area of the center of interest left unexposed.

PB is then exposed a second time, now to NO, which supplies the positive of the center of interest without affecting the latent record of the environment which is behind the black portions of NO, corresponding to screen S. The positive film is then developed, fixed and otherwise treated in well known manner, whereupon it represents a composite record POB corresponding to Fig. 3.

It will now be evident that the above described procedure of making motion pictures according to my new method is only one way of carrying out the herein described photographic aspect of the invention, and that any other suitable procedure, adapted to the-requirements of each peculiar situation, may be used. It will be further apparent how my method can be adapted for pictorial representations other than photographic reproductions.

It will also be evident that there is considerable leeway in locating the station points of the component portions of the picture, and that these points need only be approximately at the center of interest, or observers position, respectively, the exactness of coincidence depending a good deal on the relative distances between, and dimensions of, observer, center of interest, and environment.

It should be understood that the present disclosure is for the purpose of illustration only and that this invention includes all modifications and equivalents which fall within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. The method of depicting scenes including an object constituting a center of interest for the observer, accompanied by environmental objects, which comprises making a photographic record of said environmental objects from the approximate position of said center of interest, making another record of said center of interest with said environmental objects from the approximate position of said observer, with the relative size of environment and center of interest approximately the same in both records, and combining both records to form a composite record comprising the first record without the area covered in the second record by the center of interest, and the center of interest portion of the second record.

2. The method of depicting a scene including an object constituting a center of interest for the observer, accompanied by environmental objects, which comprises making a photographic record of said, environmental objects from the approximate position of said center of interest, making a record of said center of interest substantially without said environmental objects from the approximate position of said observer, the dimensions of said records having approximately the relation of the dimensions of said center of in terest and said objects, and combining said second record with those portions of said first record which are not covered by said second record when both records are superimposed, to form together a complete representation of said scene.

3. The method of depicting a scene including an object constituting an object of interest for the observer, accompanied by environmental objects, which comprises making a photographic record of said environmental objects as seen from the approximate position of said object of interest, making another record including said object as seen from the position of said observer, making an opaque mask of said second record, making a reproduction of said first record by printing through said mask, and printing said other record upon the area of said reproduction which was previously covered by said mask.

4. The art of representing a scene including an object constituting a center of interest for the observer and environmental objects, which comprises making a component photographic reproduction including said environmental objects in approximate conic projection with said center of interest as approximate station point, making another photographic component reproduction including said center of interest in approximate conic projection with the station point approximately at the position of said observer, and combining said component reproductions to form a resultant reproduction including said center of interest recorded on said second mentioned component reproduction and said environmental objects recorded on said first mentioned component reproduction in relations approximately corresponding to those of their originals in said scene.

5. The art of depicting a scene including an object constituting a center of interest for the observer and environmental objects, which comprises making a photographic reproduction including said environmental objects approximately from said center of interest, making a second photographic reproduction including said center of interest approximately from the position of said observer, and combining said reproductions to form a resultant reproduction including substantially only the record of the center of interest of said second reproduction and the record of the environmental objects of said first reproduction, as far as not covered by said record of the center of interest, with center of interest and environmental objects approximately in the relative position of their originals in said scene.

6. The art of depicting a scene including an object constituting a center of interest for the observer, accompanied by environmental objects, which comprises making a photographic record of said environmental objects approximately from said center of interest, making a photographic reproduction of said center of interest approximately from the position of said observer, making a picture of said record omitting therefrom that area which is obscured by said reproduction when superimposedupon said record, and combining said reproduction and said picture to form together a complete representation of the center of interest and the environmental objects in the approximate position of their originals in said scene.

'7. The method of depicting a scene including an object constituting a center of interest for the observer, accompanied by environmental objects, which comprises making a photographic record of said environmental objects approximately from said center of interest, making a photographic reproduction of said center of interest approximately from the position of said observer, with the relation of the dimensions of said record and said reproduction approximately the same as the relation of the dimensions of said objects and said center of interest respectively, making a picture of those portions of said record which are not covered by said reproduction when record and reproduction are superimposed, and combining said reproduction and said picture to form a complete representation or said scene.

8. The method of depicting a scene including an object constituting a center of interest for the observer, accompanied by environmental objects, which comprises making a photographic record of said environmental objects approximately from said center of interest, making a photographic reproduction including said center of interest approximately from the position of said observer, with the relation of the dimensions of said record and said reproduction approximately the same as the relation of the dimensions of said objects and said center of interest respectively, making a picture of those portions of said record which are not covered by the center of interest in said reproduction and making a picture of the portions of said reproduction which depict said center of interest, and combining said pictures to form a complete representation of said scene.

9. As an article of manufacture the representation of a scene including an object constituting a center of interest for the observer and environmental objects, said representation comprising a photographic component reproduction including said environmental objects in approximate conic projection with said center of interest as approximate station point, and another photographic component reproduction including said center of interest in approximate conic projection with the station point approximately at the position of said observer, said component reproductions being approximately related as their originals in said scene.

10. As an article of manufacture the representation of a scene including an object constituting a center of interest for the observer and environmental objects, said representation comprising a photographic reproduction of said environmental objects taken from said center of interest, and a photographic reproduction of said center of interest taken from the position of the observer, said reproductions being combined to form a composite record of center of interest and environmental objects in the approximate relation of their originals in said scene.

ADELBERT AMES, JR. 

